The Amulet of Tenebrae

Rassler then got running towards the beast and it did the same, its running steps making heavy thumps and shaking the grounds as it did. Its talons extended into almost sword like claws and went to slash at Rassler; Rass then slid in the mud between the beast's leg and he got a flame thrower line of flames being blasted at the beats's back, making he roar in pain. He snarled and tried to swipe at Rass again, but he rolled back avoiding the attacks. He almost slipped but recovered and jumped out of the way when he saw the huge fist about to punch him into the ground. Rass then chanted in a strange language and two swords formed out of the red flames and in his hands, "You will not get by me." he growled at the beast.

The creature sniggered again, not afraid of Rass in the least.

Ras glared, vanishing and appearing above the creature and went to strike at hit, but the demon blocked his blades with its shaper claws and pushed Rass back, going in fro long arm swipes, that Rass kept on dodging, but was proving hard with there terrain as it was, wet and muddy. He almost slipped and he dove through the beast's legs again to dodge its huge feet from stomping on him. Rass cut at its back lets and he roared in pain and then back handed Rass away form it, growling angrily at him.

Kendra stood in the window feeling so helpless while she watched Rass fight that ugly looking thing which she assumed was after her. She knew that she should go down to the cellar, but she just couldn't move from her spot at the window. She didn't want to leave Rassler all alone. She squeezed the amulet in her hand and silently watched. It was still raining hard outside. The wind was whirling and the thunder and lighting was raging.

The beast, REALLY mad now, took a heavy yet deep breath, a glow formed in its mouth. "Aw-FUCK!!" Rass got running, desperate to get out of the range however, the demon spat out a ball of violet electricity towards his opponent. Exploding when it hit the ground, the force of energy threw Rass off his feet and he landed in the mud, knocking the wind out if him and his swords got thrown out of reach. Leaning up out of the muddy water, He coughed and gagged a bit as the demon came over and grabbed hard by the waist, lifting him up to eye level and bared it teeth, drooling immensely. "FUCK YOU!" Rass Cursed at it, "AHGGH!~!!!!" he screamed in pain as the beasts squeezed him more, giving a sinister grin and sniggered at Rass's pain.

Kendra watched in horror as the beast got the upper hand on Rassler and hit him with a huge ball of electricity knocking him to the ground.

"RASSLER LOOK OUT!!" Kendra was calling out to him and beating on the window watching the beast reach its huge hand out to him and easily pick him up. Rassler continued to be defiant, but the beast just squeezed him like he was a grape. Kendra couldn't take it anymore. She burst through the balcony door and ran to the edge screaming, "STOP!! LET GO OF HIM!!!" All of a sudden, she felt a warm sensation in her stomach that slowly crept up to her chest. As if the amulet sensed this, it began to blink as if it were calling out to Rass.

Looking to the Balcony seeing Kenra was watching the scene,"GO BACK INSIDEEE!!!! ARRGHH!!!" he yelled in pain again, the demon ignored Her, focused on killing Rass. Rass felt the warmth as well and his marks blinked with the amulet, "HUH!" his eyes growled purple "Its calling......" he frowned in determination, he held a hand out to Kendra's direction. The amulet the got glowing a BRIGHT lilac light and floated in front of Kendra but not off her neck. Then a ray of the light shot right out to Rassler.

His marks now FULLY aglow, he was able to tap into his FULL Vassal magic once more. He gave glare at the demon, with his newly found strength, got prying the Demon's hand open to release himself, the beast confused to HOW he was doing so and tried to push his grip back on Rass. But He growled at the beast and shouted "DIMITTAS!!!" and energy burst push back demon back and released him fully.

Kendra heard his angry yell, but she didn't move. The feeling in her chest became stronger and stronger and the glowing began to flash faster. "What is this feeling in my chest?" She looked down and saw the amulet start to levitate.

"What the?" Energy started to leak from the amulet as it hovered in front of her eyes making her hair to move around her lightly. "It's reacting to something..." She looked out to Rass and saw the markings on his body glowing. The light flashed faster and suddenly shot a burst of energy at Rass then fell back down around her neck. The light energy reacted with Rass and seemed to unlock some hidden strength inside him. Kendra watched him suddenly start to overpower the demon. She stayed on the balcony watching and clenching the amulet in her hand.

He landed on the ground and his hair moving like flames, he breathed in deep, smoke exhaling from his mouth, he outwardly shuddered,"I haven't felt this in years." he said, his voice echoing. Meanwhile, the demon was getting up again and Rass growled, "No, this ENDS!" He formed his swords again, this time they were glowing the same light as he was. Before the beast could get up again fully, Rass leapt up and above the demon; aimed both blade downwards, as he landed on the demons chest, thrusting it back to the ground, Rass then stabbed his blades right through its flesh, blood splurging out. The demon squealed in pain and Rass pushed his swords into it chest to the hilt and growled, "DECRUSTO!!!" the word echoing out throughout he country side as the demon exploded into a thousand pieces....blood and chunks EVERYwhere. Rass landed back to ground in a crouching position and the blades turned to ashes.

Rassler stood slowly and panted heavily, he hadn't fought like that in a long time and felt a little rusty. He turned and looked at Kendra on the balcony....but when his marks faded back to normal black, he fainted, falling into the mud and puddle under him.

Ruth and Carter came out from the hidden wine cellar, wondering why kendra hadn't followed, they were concerned and quickly found her, "Miss Kendra!" said Carter when they found her on the balcony.

Kendra ducked behind the railing of the balcony when the best exploded into a million disgusting chunks. Once the beat was vanquished she stood up and saw that Rass was ok. They made eye contact and she smiled. Once the glow of his markings began to fade, he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Rassler!" She yelled out and turned around to run through the balcony door. She bolted through the room and down the stairs to the front door. She ran into Ruth and Carter as they were coming to find her after they left the cellar. "Please! Come with me, Rassler has fainted! Help me get him inside!" She ran out the front door and into the front yard where Rass was lying lifeless on the ground. He was covered in mud and bloody chunks. Kendra touched his wrist to feel for a pulse and put her hand under his nose to see if he was still breathing. "He is still alive..." She breathed a sigh of relief.

Carter and Ruth finally caught up to her and were stunned by the destruction left by the battle. "He seems ok. He has a pulse and is breathing. Let's get him inside quickly!"

"KENDRA!" Ruth called out and she with Carter ran right after her. They all went outside and got to Rassler's side. Ruth cringed seeing all the blood around the place and sighed, "Well...he can still fight after all this time." Carter check his ribcage, "He might have a few fractures but He'll heal with some booze." said Carter as he picked up Rass on his own and carried him back inside, with the girls following right behind.

"Ruth, Bring the old tub to the Kitchen and get it filled with hot water and a couple bottles of Shiraz." Carter instructed her, Ruther nodded and got an OLD fashioned bathtub form the storage room and she used a pot to start filling it with hot water from the kitchen sink, "Forgive me miss, but can you help me fill it?"

Kendra helped Ruth get the tub into the kitchen it was surprisingly heavy. They placed it in the center of the kitchen and Ruth started to fill it up with hot water. "Of course. Any you don't have to be so formal, please just call me Kendra, Miss. Ruth." She said and got a big pot to help fill the tub.

Between the two of them they got it filled up pretty quickly. Once they were done, she went with Ruth to the cellar and returned with a few bottles of aged wine. "Will this be enough?" She asked Ruth.

Ruth nodded, "Very Well Kendra." she said as the went back and forth to fill the tub with the boiling hot water. once filled enough Ruth looked at it, "This will do." they quickly dashed down to the wine cellar and Ruth looked for the aged Shiraz wines. "Let me see." she said, inspecting the wine Kendra found, "Yes these will do." she said as they hurried back up.

When they entered the kitchen again, Carter had Stripped Rass down to nothing, "Get the wine into the water, all four." he said. Ruth got them uncorked and handed two opened bottles to Kendra to pour into the water. Once they had down so and the water was a reddish-purple colour Carter dipped Rass in feet first and allowed him to slide in, not wanting to touch the hot water himself. They held Rass' head above the water and once his body was submerged it got the water boiling and hissing. The wine was doing its job. Carter sighed, "Kendra....We'll watch him, you should shower again and get some rest." said Carter.

Kendra held two bottles in her hands while Ruth carried the other two as they walked back up the stairs to the kitchen. Kendra stopped in her tracks when she saw that Rass was FULLY naked lying on the floor near the tub. Carter was removing his clothes so nonchalantly. Kendra's face lit up bright red. She walked behind Ruth trying to block her view of his naked body. She knelt down on the opposite side of the tub and uncorked the wine seeming very nervous. Her eyes seemed to be drawn to his body. She would glance every so often at him. She started from his neck and slowly made her way down to his stomach.

Carter caught her attention when she almost got to his nether region. "Huh?! O-Oh...sure." She was so mesmerized that she hadn't realized her bottle was already empty. She put it down and excused herself. "Please, take good care of him." She said before she left them in the kitchen and went upstairs to shower again.

LAter in the wee hours of the morning... Rassler stirred and Cater was at his side. "Oh thank the spirits, you're awake." relieved to see he was looking better. Rass groaned and sat up in the bath, splashing a little. He rubbed his face, "What in the fuck happened?" he groaned, feeling stiff still.

"You fought off a Violence Demon and you used the Magic of Tenebrae....after so long you've still got it." chuckled Carter.

"Of fucking course I still got it." he said with a dry expression. He looked at his current state and felt he was still dirty on his face and hair, he groaned and ducked under the water, which with his body healing was still hot. Resurfacing, he wiped the dirt and blood off his face, "Where's Kendra?" he asked.

"In her room. I got her to go to bed, Which I'll be doing soon too." he stood up and clicked his back. "Getting old there Carter?" smirked Rass.

"You can shut your mouth." Carter retired back, "Anyway, Ruth cleaned and dried your clothes and there's towels. I'll see you in the morning." he headed on out of the kitchen. Rass sighed and looked to the ceiling, '............She stayed....stupid girl.' he finished cleaning himself up and got out of the bath.

---

The NEXT morning.....it as just raining now and no lighting or thunder, thankfully. Ruth came to wake Kendra, not surprisingly that everyone had a LONG night the other day. She knocked on her door, "Kendra? Are you awake?"

After her shower, she wrapped up in an over sized tee shirt just in case. It was also really cold in the manor that night. She got into her uncles huge canopy bed and pulled the covers up. The pillow smelled of tobacco and scented oils. She smiled and snuggled into the blankets. She closed her eyes but found it hard to sleep. She couldn't stop worrying about Rassler. The events of the fight playing back in her mind. She clenched the amulet as she remembered the strange feeling she felt when the amulet reacted. She had never felt such a force before. As her mind finally began to calm down, she drifted off to sleep.

The sun was high and she heard a knock at the door which woke her up. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "I am now." She said with a yawn. She got out of bed and stretched going to the door to greet Ruth. "How is Rassler? Is he ok?" She asked her.

"He's out of the tub, but I haven't gone to look for him. He knows this manor's little secrets more than anyone." she sighed, "Anyway, I'm making brunch if you are hungry." she smiled, "And I've some fresh clean clothes for you." said added and handed her the neatly piled clothes.

"but if you want to know where he is, use the Amulet." she reminded and headed down stairs.

"Thank you. I will be down soon." She took the clean clothes from her and closed the door so she could get dressed. "I can use the amulet to track Rass, eh?" She said while pulling on a green crop top. Once she was fully dressed, she took off the amulet and looked it over not sure how to activate it.

"Umm, show me where Rassler is?" She said to it but nothing happened right away. Soon the amulet began to blink with a purple light and a small beam of light pointed straight ahead from the amulet and was directing her to the door. "Hmm, I guess this light will lead me to him." She opened the door and followed the light out of the room in the direction it was leading.

The little light went on down stairs and went down the lower east hall, where many doors were not opened yet. But the light went down the hall and turned right to room with a door slightly opened and light coming out. and the light continued to shine to the door until she was close enough.

Kendra followed the light to a part of the manor she hadn't yet seen. She was led to a LONG hallway of unopened doors. The light continued to shine as she walked. Toward the end there was a huge door that seemed to lead into an extravagant room. It was slightly cracked open and she could hear someone in there. Once she was close enough, the light blinked off. She put the amulet back on and stuck her head inside to see what Rassler was up to.

Rass was topless and was doing hand stand push-ups like it was NO body's business, making it look easy. He had his back to the door, continuing on with his little work out he was doing. His purple rings, vest and shirt were off to the side and he was grunting as he counted how many he was up to, "109, 110.." he said.

Kendra stared at his body. It was more impressive than she remembered. His muscles were bulging and tight. Veins protruded out with each push up he made. "Wow..." She said softly. He was so impressive compared to an ordinary human. She stood in the doorway continuing to watch him train.

He heard her soft speaking, "Are you coming in, are you gonna stare all day?" he asked as he stopped and got his feet back on the ground and stood up right once more, clicking his neck and rolling his shoulders and arms. ".......I can guess you have questions?" he said.

She gasped suddenly and quickly hid herself behind the door like a scared child that had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

'Wait...why am I hiding?' She asked herself. Her face was hot with embarrassment at being caught and also at watching him. She slowly came around the corner and entered through the door.

"A few, yes. Glad to see you are alright now." She said, walking closer.

He looked at her, "Carter knew what to do." he said, "All I'm annoyed about it that i'm so fuckin rusty in my combat....i need to get back into shape." which seemed a little odd with JUST HOW in shape he currently was.

"Anyway...." he walked over and got the purple rings and slipped them back on each of his fingers and thumbs. Then he gave his knuckles a crack, "Ask your questions." he said bluntly.

"First things first...what was that ugly beast you fought?" She started.

"A Violence Demon." he said, "A foul creature that forms from the constant aggression or violence that is condensed in a person or location." he said, "They are one of the hardest demons to deal with...and Vor knew that I would be rusty." he sighed.